Many submersible vehicles, such as military submarines, include one or more object ejection systems. An object ejection system may be used to eject various types of objects from the vehicle. Such objects may include, for example, sonar buoys, counter measure devices, and various types of weapons, such as torpedoes and/or missiles. A typical object ejection system that is used to eject weapons from a submersible vehicle includes one or more weapon ejection tubes, an impulse tank, a boost pump, and an air turbine.
A weapon may be launched from an ejection tube by fluidly communicating the ejection tube with an impulse tank by, for example, opening a slide valve on the ejection tube, and then pressurizing the impulse tank with fluid. In many ejection systems the impulse tank is pressurized by commanding a firing valve to the open position, which allows high pressure air to flow to the air turbine. The air turbine, upon receiving the flow of high pressure air, drives the boost pump, which draws fluid (e.g., seawater) from the environment surrounding the vehicle hull and discharges the fluid, at a higher pressure, into the impulse tank.
Although the ejection system described above is generally safe, reliable, and robust, it does suffer certain drawbacks. For example, the ejection system is typically configured to provide a basic launch profile for a tube launch that is not easily or readily modifiable. The optimum launch profile for an object may vary depending, for example, on vehicle type, vehicle speed, vehicle depth, the type of object being launched, the desired object exit velocity, and the desired accoustic emission during the launch. By using only a single, basic launch profile, objects may not be ejected from the vehicle using the optimum launch profile for the given conditions during the launch.
Hence, there is a need for a submersible vehicle launch ejection system that launches objects from the vehicle using an optimized launch profile that is based on vehicle type, object type, and current vehicle conditions. The present invention addresses at least this need.